There’s no point in arguing the matter: Relationship of Command is the best At the Drive-In record, and At the Drive-In was one of the absolute best of the punk/emo/hardcore scene of the late nineties/early oughts, if not the outright best.
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Record #207: Hot Hot Heat – Make Up the Breakdown (2002)
If you don’t think this record is great, you’re wrong. It caught my ear upon its arrival when my family had cable and Fuse still played music. I was a tenth grader with Dashboard Confessional, Finch, and Thursday in my CD player when I first saw a crazy music video by a bunch of moptops called Hot Hot Heat playing a song called Bandages.
Record #205: Fugazi – Margin Walker (1989)
And the gaps in my Fugazi collection continue to grow smaller (one remains, if you’re not counting Instrument Soundtrack as a true album, which I don’t). Margin Walker, their second EP, sees the fearless foursome showing a drastic leap forward in composition that makes Repeater look like a step back.
Record #193: The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Vols 1& 2 (2001)
The Appleseed Cast can be a strange beast to pin down. When I first heard them on various Deep Elm Records samplers, they were obviously an emo band. Then in college, when a friend sent me “Fight Song” off of Two Conversations, I put it on my indie rock playlist in iTunes.
Then most recently, the drummer in my band referred to them as one of his favorite post rock bands. And now, as I’ve rediscovered their magnus opus, a sprawling two volume opus on three discs, I’ve found that none of those are that far off.
Record #188: Fugazi – Red Medicine (1995)
Even with as long as I’ve listened to Fugazi, I am almost completely unfamiliar with Red Medicine. In fact, the only thing I hear when I think of the album is the super-gained choppy intro and the chorus of opener Do You Like Me? Purchasing the vinyl (and cassette! Gotta love overstock on record companies’ websites) was an act intended to force me to spend time with the record. Well, that and to fill in the two gaps in my collection (Steady Diet of Nothing, I’m coming for you).
Record #182: Fugazi – End Hits (1997)
Across six albums and two EPs, Fugazi created some of the most fearlessly adventurous, boundless experimental post-hardcore ever released.
And even in the context of their full discography, End Hits is a strange beast. Continue reading
Record #180: Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker (1993)
From what I understand, anytime Steve Albini records something, the band is unhappy with the result and decides to change it (see: In Utero). In on the Kill Taker went through this process, and I’m glad they did, because this entire record is unmistakably Fugazi, and I would’ve hated for it to have sounded like someone besides Fugazi playing the songs. Continue reading
Record #179: Fugazi – Repeater (1990)
When it comes to putting words to Fugazi’s catalogue, it’s a difficult task. What can you say besides “they were the best, man, just the best” over and over again?
Each album only enforces that mantra, and Repeater, their third release and first full length, is no exception.
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Record #178: Fugazi – 7 Songs (1988)
Every so often, a band comes around that is simply the best at what they do, and there’s nothing anyone can do to argue against it. They carry the unstoppable combination of immeasurable talent and fearless experimentalism that makes them legends in their own right and inspire countless others to follow in their footsteps. The Beatles were that kind of band. Radiohead still is (I’ll fight anyone who says King of Limbs wasn’t great). And friends, if you don’t already know, Fugazi was that kind of band. If you know nothing about Fugazi, just know that Fugazi was the Radiohead of punk rock.
Record #125: Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs (2008)
A reviewer once called Narrow Stairs “unquestionably the best thing [Death Cab] had ever done.” While I would ask this reviewer if he had ever listened to Transatlanticism, I would agree that Narrow Stairs is the darkest and most ambitious thing they had ever done, sometimes with more in common with Radiohead than with the rest of their catalogue.
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